Tijdspoor – ProRail

Genre: Multiplayer, Button Bash
Client: ProRail

The company ProRail, a government task organization that takes care of maintenance and extension of the national railway network and infrastructure, is currently undertaking construction work around Utrecht Central Station. This is causing some nuisance among the travelers because it affects the train traffic.

ProRail commissioned a project with a team of five HKU students in order to reflect on ways to improve their image. The project duration was set to four months. While ProRail did not have any specific ideas about the final product, they did lay out a set of guidelines. The objective was to give the passengers a better insight on the work ProRail is doing and the nuisance it may generate, and allow them to develop an understanding towards the company. However, ProRail let us complete freedom with respect to the execution.

The final product needed to be innovative. It had to be an eye catcher that would attract the public and get ProRail’s message across. Taking these requirements and the target audience into account, we produced an interactive installation that was originally based on the holographic projection method. However, throughout the design process, the concept took a different turn. It was only later in the project that we learned the basis of our newest design was not in fact holography anymore, but an old stage illusion called the Pepper’s Ghost.